Field of the Invention
The invention relates to doors, specifically to a reusable and portable temporary door and frame assembly primarily used in abatement, remediation, demolition, and remodeling applications (such as for dust containment and the elimination of mold, asbestos, or lead, but not limited thereto). It is typically employed with a temporary containment wall, temporary containment enclosure, existing doorway, entrance, or other enlarged wall opening adjacent to a limited access area to allow quick and easy ingress and egress to/from the limited access area within which it is desired to contain construction debris, drywall dust, or other materials having a potential health risk or otherwise causing a difficult, time-consuming, and/or expensive clean up process if not contained. Once the present invention is installed, which typically takes one person less than 10 minutes, there is no bending, stretching, ducking, or tripping hazard while users attempt to pass through it to go from one side of the present invention door/frame assembly to the other, as is often encountered with prior art entrance openings created by temporary zippered devices. The present invention door/frame assembly comprises lightweight materials, such as but not limited to plastic or aluminum, and integral to its outer door frame are two non-spring-loaded telescopic poles that may be extended upwardly to raise a top bar/piece for attachment to an overhead portion of a permanent door frame, header, or ceiling. It is preferred that the non-spring-loaded telescopic poles have a locking feature, such as but not limited to a simple locking pin inserted into a set of spaced-apart holes or a ratcheting/locking mechanism, and the top bar supported by the telescopic poles may have holes for fastener attachment to a ceiling or other surface above it, or the bar may be secured in place by double face, preservation, or Ezier™ tape, or other means. In addition, the non-spring-loaded telescopic poles are removable from the top portion of the assembly's outer frame portion, and two upwardly and currently marketed extendable Zipwall® poles (or other tensioned product) may be substituted, easily allowing use of the present invention door/frame assembly with a containment wall or enclosure built to ceiling heights beyond the reach of the present invention's integral non-spring-loaded telescopic poles, making the present invention assembly even more versatile. In addition, since the present invention assembly is portable, it can be installed to open both inwardly and outwardly, and is easily reversible for left or right hand swing, depending on convenience or need. The door of the most preferred embodiment of the present invention assembly is also lockable to prevent unauthorized entry to a limited access area where hazardous materials may be present, and the frame of the door hinged to the present invention's outer frame portion also preferably includes top and bottom seals to further reduce air transmission to/from the limited access area.
Description of the Related Art
Dust/debris partitions, barriers, panels, and doors are known, and applications include, but are not limited to, devices employed in and for hospital clean rooms, loading docks, coal mines, and construction dust and debris containment. For example, published U.S. patent application 2005/0247414 to Whittmore (2005) discloses a partition mount with integrated plunger system wherein multiple telescoping poles each engage the edge of a temporary protective sheet/partition in different locations against a ceiling. If the sheet/partition extends from ceiling-to-floor, and between opposing walls in a room (or between the opposed edges of a wall opening), a protective barrier can be quickly installed. However, the present invention disclosed herein is different from the Whittmore invention, as the present invention would not form a protective barrier/partition, but instead provide an easily used access entryway (but sturdy and lockable) to/from a confined area separated by the partition formed using the Whittmore invention. The Whittmore invention is currently sold under the name of Zipwall®, which advertises that it can be used to install a protective barrier or partition in under ten minutes. Zippers are usually provided for entry through the Zipwall® barrier/partition. Other examples of dust/debris partitions, barriers, panels, and doors include the “roll-down” dust protection door disclosed in published U.S. patent application 2006/0283652 to Hickey (2006), the barrier with decorative interchangeable panels disclosed in FIG. 5B of published U.S. patent application 2012/0006498 to Potter (2012) that also has top and bottom outwardly-biased telescoping features that are used to secure it between a ceiling and floor, and the access door to a baseball batting cage or other similar structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,875,772 to Dixon, Jr. (2014). However, all have structure that is distinctively different from the present invention reusable and portable temporary door and frame assembly, and less versatile for abatement, remediation, demolition, and remodeling worksites.
Another product generally providing the same containment area access function as the present invention is the Zipwall® Standard Doorway Dust Containment Kit, which is currently sold and provides a plastic sheet having dimensions approximately 3-feet wide by 7-feet tall, and two pre-installed zippers glued to the sheet for ingress and egress from one side of the sheet to the other after installation in a doorway entrance. A roll of double-sided tape is also included in the kit for use in sealing the sheet to the doorway entrance perimeter or adjacent wall surfaces. A disadvantage of the Zipwall® doorway kit is that each time a person needs to move through the doorway entrance it creates when its zipper is open, that person has to bend down all the way to the floor, grip the zipper with one hand and hold the flexible plastic sheet with the other hand, and then stretch sufficiently upward to raise the zipper above their head and create a suitably large access opening, move through the opening made and immediately thereafter reverse the process from the other side to close the opening all the way to the floor, which doubles the amount of bending and stretching that must occur for each entry and exit to/from a limited access area protected by a temporary containment barrier or enclosure. Such a doorway barrier is inconvenient if access to the confined area it protects is needed hundreds of times in a day, which typically occurs in abatement and remediation activity involving multiple construction workers, technicians, supervisors, and inspectors. Also, it is inconvenient and sometimes awkward for a person carrying a load, or otherwise encumbered, to move into or out of a confined area through a zippered Zipwall® doorway entrance, and the thin flexible sheet taped to the floor on both sides of the zippered entrance opening can potentially become a tripping hazard. In addition, a zippered partition/barrier is not wheelchair accessible, and it is not easy to secure/lock to keep out unauthorized people, children, or pets. Although the prior art zipper door could be installed upside down with the zipper tab at the top in a closed door application, and this would eliminate the risk of access into the containment area by pets and crawling children/toddlers, technicians and others having a need to repeatedly enter and exit the containment area would have an increased likelihood of tripping over the upside down installed prior art zipper device and sustaining an injury. In contrast, the present invention assembly overcomes all of these disadvantages, and it is easy to use, opens both inwardly and outwardly, is reversible for left or right hand swing depending on convenience or need, and it provides superior entrance protection to that of the known prior art while preventing all unauthorized entry into a hazardous environment or until post remediation testing is performed and a clearance certificate is received. There is no known invention having structure similar to that in the present invention, or providing the same benefits and advantages.
The importance of and advantages provided by the present invention door/frame assembly over the less secure zippered doorway entrances are further illustrated by examples given below, and by the fact that in most abatement, remediation, demolition, and remodeling work it is common for hidden dangers to be discovered as work progresses, making it difficult for project managers and technicians to predict and give notice in advance to owners and tenants about all potential dangers that will be present. Thus, the exclusion of unauthorized people and pets from active abatement, remediation, demolition, and remodeling worksites is a serious and important objective, and the best available precautions should be taken. When zippered entranceways are used, unauthorized people and pets cannot always be kept out of hazardous work areas, or those areas where work appears complete but the areas have not yet received post remediation testing and a clearance certificate. Sometimes owners are to blame and purposefully enter an area they know to be restricted, unaware of all potential dangers present. Sometimes the unauthorized entry is unexpected and innocent, such as by an unsupervised and curious child or pet. The following are examples of hazardous situations which have occurred, or could potentially occur, most of which would be avoided by use of the present invention door/frame assembly which is sufficiently versatile for use with most temporary containment enclosures and barriers employed in abatement, remediation, demolition, and remodeling work.
In two known situations, a sight impaired owner's pet and a hearing impaired pet were each able to maneuver themselves through a prior art zippered doorway and enter a restricted containment area. One pet became disoriented from background sounds outside the containment area and/or by the equipment running inside the containment area, and the other pet could not see to find the prior art zippered doorway opening in order to exit. Since both pets became stressed by their inability to exit the containment area on their own, and in an attempt to prevent further stress to their pets, their owners thereafter choose to leave the zipper doorway entrance open for their pets to pass into and out of the containment area at will. However, in doing so the pet owners unthinkingly exposed themselves and others in the household to possible health risks, by the mixing of air in the containment area with that in other areas of their home, even after being advised in advance about the importance of keeping the zippered door entranceway completely closed at all times.
Crawling children and curious toddlers are also at risk when zippered doors are used in temporary containment barriers and enclosures, as the means to open them is at floor/eye level and within their reach, and once breaching the barrier or enclosure they would encounter many small, sharp, shiny, and new objects they had never seen before that although extremely dangerous would create an attractive nuisance for them, enticing them to investigate and handle, and possibly taste or ingest. Toddlers left unsupervised for even one minute could easily unzip and enter the containment area, also possibly exposing themselves to hazardous mold spores, asbestos, lead, exposed wires posing an electrocution hazard, open containers containing water and other liquids, many falling and tripping hazards, and other dangers. They could also be injured by falling from an open stairwell, into recessed showers, or through sections of a bathroom where sewage contaminated sub-flooring had been removed in the multi story floor system of a home, condominium, or apartment. In addition, when repairs are made to bathrooms encountering water and/or damage from overflowing toilets, it is required that the toilets be detached so that a thorough cleaning/sanitizing can occur for the entire surrounding concrete floor, tile or other impervious floors surfaces adjacent to the toilet, as well as the area below the toilet itself. Thus, while such areas remain contaminated and unguarded, the hands of a crawling child within a containment enclosure could easily come in contact with the toilet bowl flange, the inside of sewer pipe, and/or sewage contaminated floors containing high levels of bacteria, possible HIV and hepatitis A or B viruses, and/or other pathogens. Once on the child's hands, the pathogens may be ingested with the child subsequently becoming ill, even contracting a disease that could lead to its death. In contrast, when the present invention door/frame assembly in its closed and locked position is used with a temporary enclosure or barrier for abatement, remediation, demolition, and remodeling work, it is impenetrable by young children who learn early that closed doors block their path and prevent entry. Thus, it is unlikely that they would makes further entry attempts once they encountered the closed present invention door and/or found it locked. However, children also are taught early to open and close things, including zippers, so a zippered door entryway at floor level in a temporary containment enclosure or barrier that is encountered is familiar, and easily opened by many children. Although a zippered entranceway to an unattended containment area could be blocked with a large object, it is not easily locked in the same manner as the present invention door/frame assembly.
Another potential hazard to children and pets in abatement, remediation, demolition, and remodeling projects involves second story toilet overflow, that requires the sewage affected and/or mold contaminated sub-flooring to be removed along with the wet first floor drywall ceiling below. This leaves the upper bathroom floor open to the ceiling of the room below, with each room now exposed to the other. A pet or a child entering a containment area with such hazard through an un-lockable prior art zippered entranceway (located at floor level and within their reach) might then unwittingly fall through the newly opened floor system to the room below, causing it serious injury or death. Also, many children are attracted to water. On its website the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission acknowledges young children are at risk around water, and that between 1996 and 1999 it received reports of 459 young children drowning in bathtubs, buckets, toilets, spas and hot tubs, and other containers holding liquid. Another hazard to children and pets in unattended containment areas is dehumidification equipment that may cause ambient temperatures within the containment area to rise to 120-degrees Fahrenheit, or higher. If a pet or young child entered a containment area unattended where temperatures of 120-degrees Fahrenheit, or higher, were present, a devastating injury or loss of life could occur in as little as 20 minutes. The National Highway Safety Administration website has information relating to children left unattended in hot cars, with a general consensus of Internet information stating that very high body temperatures can lead to brain damage, damage of vital organs, heat stroke, and death. Once the body's sweating mechanism fails, body temperature can rise to 106-degrees Fahrenheit in 10-15 minutes. The present invention prevents the unsupervised entry of pets and children into containment areas better than prior art zippered doorway entrances, and the other information presented hereinabove demonstrated that there is an unfulfilled need that can be resolved by use of the present invention in current abatement, remediation, demolition, or remodeling work.
Once children and pets access an abatement, remediation, demolition, or remodeling containment area, they might be exposed to anything from sharp objects, carpet tack strips, sharp edges on metal studs, glass, demolition or construction debris, electric power tools, exposed electric outlets with the covers removed during demolition, tubs, spas and hot tubs, buckets containing liquids, and toilets still in place that may still contain water. All pose serious risks to unsupervised children and pets. Thus, containment areas are always a dangerous environment for children, pets, and others not fully appreciating the hazards present, and substituting the present invention door/frame assembly for a prior art zippered entranceway significantly reduces the risk of occurrence for the potential tragedies described above. Even one curious child being saved by use of the present invention, would provide a great benefit.